Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $26.63 Million Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 497,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $26,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,582,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,035,000 after purchasing an additional 232,237 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,569,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE JEF opened at $52.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.52. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.